Water & Window Wizardry

Time for a little catchup post on a couple of  projects. When I last posted about projects, Rog was high up on a ladder trimming off the edge of the metal barn roof with a Sawzall (shudder) in order to install gutters for a rainwater catchment system. I am happy to report he successfully and safely trimmed the roof and got the gutters hung, even on the west end of the barn where the ground drops off precipitously and the earth was like muddy quicksand from all the rain.

Chris took the two 275-gallon recycled food-grade totes to the car wash to  clean out the remains of very fragrant garlic oil that had been stored in them. Easier said than done!  The totes are the reservoirs for the roof water.

But before the  totes could be hooked up to the gutters, Rog wanted to install windows along the south side of the barn, because once those totes are full of 275 gallons of water they aren't going anywhere. Rog had found five 4' x 8' 1-inch insulated glass windows on Craigslist for a very good deal. Together with the three Craigslist windows we installed a couple years ago, we had enough to glass in most of the south side of our  barn.  They are excruciatingly heavy, however,  and we recruited the Nodding Wild Onions  band members, Chris and some of his friends to assist.

 Rog had removed the metal siding and we replaced it with the glass panels on the outside of the framing.

Securing the glass top and bottom.

We are very thankful for generous, hardworking friends with strong muscles!

The final panel is lifted into place.

 The view from inside the barn--funny expressions.

 Admiring the wall o'glass!

The transformation on the inside of the barn is astounding. What was a dark space is now a bright solarium! I plan to use this as studio space this summer, maybe start seeds in here, host gatherings, and someday it may become a classroom and dining area, if we succeed in getting a commercial kitchen built someday. (The colorful ceiling decor is left over from the Day of the Dead feast last November.)

The next morning, I painted all the outside window trim and after work Rog and Chris set the totes in place and hooked them up to the downspouts.  Not more than an hour later, we were drenched with a heavy 20-minute downpour that conveniently tested the water catchment system.  The totes both filled halfway from that brief rain!  That's 500 gallons of water that would have otherwise drained onto my already extraordinarily muddy cattle yard where the cows have been sinking in past their knees -- I am delighted to divert that water.  Chris is pleased to have warm rainwater to top off the pond and aquaponics system. Cadence will be very happy to have water right there, to water the veggies in the hoop house without having to lug a quarter-mile of hose from the hose bib.

Two giant steps forward!!

Flood Damage Down the Road

When we  drove home last night a police officer  was stopping every car turning onto 75th Street to inquire where they were heading.   He told us we were fine getting to our house, but the road was closed at Douglas. This morning I decided to take my camera and check it out. At Genoa, 5 miles down the road, the usually placid little river was raging and had washed out the road.

I talked to the fellow who lives at the corner along the river.  He said last night the water came up suddenly and was lapping at his house. He believes his house was saved when the road washed out and the water dropped.

You can see the  high water line on the propane tank in his back yard--it was 2 feet  deeper at its peak.

His shed is flooded - but it does look rather picturesque.

The river normally flows on the other side of those pines. The yellow objects floating by the pampas grass are the spaghetti and butternut squashes in the garden.

The real flood devastation is in the small communities just to our north and northeast - where you can't even get right now: Pine Island, Oronoco, Zumbrota, Wanamingo.  There is  sobering video footage at www.kttc.com.  

Deluge

We have had  constant rain since yesterday afternoon.  This morning when I did the chores the depth in my washtub was 6 inches, and the rain was still falling steadily.

When I can't sleep I listen to the radio and all night; last night I was hearing warnings of flash flood. When we bought this farm 2 years ago we had been looking for a farm along a trout stream.  We had made an offer on a property  along the Zumbro River,  but someone made a sweeter offer first. Then we drove through a valley  near Whitewater State park and Rog said, "This is my dream spot. Let's hold out for  a place like this."

The very next week we had a 500-year flood and that valley was scoured clean. We changed our vision of our dream spot - and this farm on the hill sounded pretty good.  I am so grateful that we purchased our little farm on the hill.
My drive into town tonight to deliver CERTS materials and pick up Rog from work was full of very wet drama. Recently  harvested corn fields along our road were saturated, flooded.

When I got  to the intersection of Hwy 52, traffic was being diverted --the highway was closed from Rochester to the Twin Cities (85 miles), the radio announced.  What would have been a 2 minute drive to my turn south took 45 minutes.

The stream of cars exiting Highway 52 north (taken from inside my car in the drivers' seat.)

The ditch along 75th St NW is ordinarily dry.

Turning south on 18th Ave NW, toward town, there is a little bridge over a creek bed that ordinarily has only a trickle of water, at most. Not today!

The other side of the road.

The engorged Zumbro River by 14th St NW.

Spectators everywhere--this city has a history of devastating floods, and people are mesmerized by the prospect of flooding.

The Zumbro River by the Rochester Rowing Club. I stopped here because our daughters are former rowers and have spent many an hour on this stretch of the river.

Phil, the coach, still in his dress shirt and tie after work, was directing rowers in moving boats to higher ground, just in case the water rises further.

Flotsam and jetsam was whizzing down the powerful river. When a huge tree swept past, these two rowers rushed out onto the dock to nudge it away with a broken oar if it threatened to smash the dock -a gesture that caused my mom-heart to stop for a moment. Fortunately, it whirled past without touching the dock and then the coach sent everybody home.

Blessedly, other than soggy poultry and cows, Squash Blossom Farm is avoiding any flood problems. Rain is STILL falling. My heart goes out to the folks downstream who have their rain plus our rain to deal with tonight!

Foggy August Morn

We awoke to dense fog this morning; the dew was so heavy it was as if it had just rained.

Plants were dripping.

Scarecrow danced happily in the garden  in a fog.

Rog got an early start on weeding and digging potatoes, getting as much  accomplished as possible before the fog burned off and it turned into a sultry, sticky, sunny day.

When I went in for my  morning coffee after miking the cow, I noticed that even the kitchen window screens had droplets condensed from the thick fog.

We All Live Downstream

Next month I am joining a social mission trip to Guatemala, where a group of Minnesota women will be taking energy efficient, clean-burning wood stoves to a Mayan village. Why stoves? Wood burning stoves are used both for cooking and indoor heating in the villages and there are many serious health problems caused by the smoke from the inefficient stoves. Also, wood is scarce and expensive, and the new stoves will require only 1/10th as much wood for fuel.

This will be my first trip to Latin America, but many of these women have been making this journey for many years. Some are teachers and health care professionals and will teach women's health classes and provide women with reading glasses -invaluable because many women in this very poor country earn money from their beautiful weaving. The group also hopes to dig some latrines and assist with some construction. My main role (I feel sort of guilty because it is such a dream job) will be to photograph and document the trip.

Some of the women in our group are developing a manual for the workshops. Because the villagers are mostly illiterate, the manual must be mostly in illustrations. I offered to create simple drawings, if needed. I have just completed my drawing assignments for the manual, which ended up being about parasites, clean water and hand-washing. The women gather water from the river--this image is about what happens upstream and why water must be boiled before using. I have never created images of animals and people defecating before--kind of awkward.

Coincidentally, the downstream drawing resonated with an initiative I am volunteering with here, focusing on water issues in our own South Zumbro watershed, and called "Water Matters.". Although many people assume Minnesota doesn't have water issues- we are the land of 15,000 lakes, after all - I am learning about the many complex issues we face, including chemical and nutrient run-off from both agricultural and urban areas that gets into our ground water and ultimately contributes to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico , pharmaceuticals and estrogen-like compounds in our water, increased flooding from so much impermeable surface and tiling, the drawdown of our precious aquifers - to mention just a few.

On Tuesday, three of us attended an amazing art exhibit opening Friday at the Katherine Nash Gallery in Minneapolis, entitled "Women and Water Rights." Throughout most of the world, women are responsible for hauling the water used for drinking, cooking, and cleaning, and I learned that the average distance women throughout the world have to walk for water is 4 miles! (I will no longer complain about hauling water form my house to the barn for the cows.) Estimates are that by 2025, 2/3 of the world's population will face moderate to severe water shortages.

I left with a renewed resolve to make significant water conservation efforts at Squash Blossom Farm, which I promise to post about on this blog. I am adding a "Water" tag.

When It Rains, It Stores

Rog noticed this wonderful oak wine barrel set out by the dumpster behind Andy's Liquor store when he was picking up a bottle of wine the other night. He asked about it when he was checking out and was told that they wouldn't mind if it just disappeared...so we loaded it in the back of our little Vibe and took it home to the farm. It's going to make the most lovely rain barrel next spring!